ArkansasTrackStats.com
“Promoting participation in and support for cross-country
and track and field in Arkansas secondary schools.”
FIRST ANNUAL ArkansasTrackStats.com CROSS-COUNTRY
STATE MEET PREVIEW
Introduction
As the
inaugural cross-country season for ArkansasTrackStats.com sprints
toward the finish chute, hundreds of Arkansas high school runners prepare for
the State Meets on Saturday at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs. For the serious teams and runners, this week
culminates a long season that began with summer training last June. All the early morning runs to escape this
past summer’s brutal heat, the hill running to build stamina, the interval
track workouts to hone speed, long road runs to develop endurance and weight
training to increase upper body strength is now about to pay off. For others, the State Meet may be the
catalyst that leads to a commitment to work harder next season. For still
others, the State Meet is a chance to represent their school in competition and
to prove something to themselves.
Thanks
to all the coaches, meet sponsors and school representatives who provided meet
results and information that have helped make ArkansasTrackStats.com successful.
Special thanks to Coach Karl Koonce, President of the Arkansas Track
Coaches Association, who encouraged us to take on this website and has been a
friend from the outset. We hope we have been helpful to our customers…coaches,
runners, fans and members of the media and we look forward to the upcoming
track season. We will appreciate any
comments you have as to how to make the site better. To contact us, feel free to email us at stats@ArkansasTrackStats.com
and we will gladly consider how we can improve the site’s usefulness. We are sure that you will have more great
ideas than we can implement but we would love to hear from you.
Content of the Preview
This
preview covers each classification for which a championship is contested and a
separate preview addresses the Girls and Boys divisions. By necessity we base the observations on
reported meet results, personal observations and feedback we have received from
coaches. We have worked extra hard to
try to ensure the accuracy of the race data, runners names and other
information. Please accept our apologies for any errors as we can assure you
they are unintentional.
Due to
differences in course conditions, weather conditions, different race distances
and other factors cross-country times are not as comparable as track times.
Therefore, it is entirely possible that runners can perform significantly
different in one race than in the next.
Also, the excitement of the State Meet and the motivations of the
individual runner can lead to surprise break-through performances where times
drop drastically or runners finish much higher than their season best
performances would suggest. This is one
of the neat elements of cross-country that makes major races so interesting to
a fan.
The
preview is not meant to be a prediction.
The preview is an analysis reflecting best times and performances as
reported throughout the season. There
may well be performers who run very well at State that no one has heard of
before the meet. Teams may peak at
State that heretofore have not performed well.
Expect a few surprises.
For fans
new to cross-country, check out the section of the Preview entitled “Rules of
Road” to learn more about the sport and how the scoring works.
Now,
enough rambling. Click on the item below to read the Preview. See you at State!
Location of Meet:
Oaklawn Park Infield, Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas
(Parking for buses and cars will be in the lot south of
the track. Enter the infield through
the tunnel between the parking lot and grandstand. The grandstand and track areas are off-limits to cross-country
participants and spectators.)
Date: Saturday, November 4, 2000
Host School: Lake
Hamilton, Class 5A
Admission:
Adults-$5.00; Students-$4.00.
T-shirts and concessions will be available
for sale.
Race Times:
12:30 p.m. Boys A/AA (Note: Class A and AA are combined into one meet.)
Rules of the Road ………..information about the sport for newcomers to cross-country
Arkansas Activities
Association 2000 Cross-Country Regulations
….be sure to visit the AAA’s website
at www.ahsaa.org for information
about the upcoming track season and other interesting information affecting
high school sports in Arkansas.
Be sure to visit us often
at www.
ArkansasTrackStats.com for meet results, best
performances, event schedules and other cross-country and track and field
information affecting Arkansas senior and junior high schools.
©ArkansasTrackStats.com October 2000